Through square foot gardening, medicinal herb gardening, alternative energy, becoming debt free, being thrifty, food storage, and small livestock we plan to survive retirement without working until we drop dead!!

Sunday, August 30, 2015

Eggplant: This is 3 plants in an Earth Box.I used 2 of these boxes and they are the best growing of the whole garden. Self watering and mineral enriched soil.

I bought these 3qt buckets at the Dollar Tree to grow herbs in until I find a good place for them. This is Spanish oregano that took FOREVER to germinate. The thyme took a long time too though.

Lettuce leaf basil. We love it on sandwiches and of course brushetta. Huge mild flavor leaves.

I grew 4 different kinds of lettuce in window boxes. This worked great. I have been using rock dust (Azomite) which is similar to the Dolomite the Earth Boxes use.

My lemon balm has nearly disappeared from the garden. I transplanted into a pot so I was able to relocate. As fall temps approach I'll be more active out there making changes for the 2016 garden. That's all for now. We have a lot to do today so Monday I will get more pics and give a few sneak peaks of what I plan to do during those extreme cold months ahead!

Monday, August 24, 2015

Looking over the list of seeds I planted back in May, I'm shocked at how different a season can turn out! The weather, once again, threw us for a loop. We had excessive amounts of rain. Even in the raised beds, the little root feet of my baby plants let go of their mineral and rotted cow pooh enriched soil to float.The onions rotted, parsnips never grew, either did the beans, carrots were swimmers. We did get a few radishes. Two kale plants and one broccoli survived the chickens.Two tomato plants grown in an Earth Box did beautiful as well as three eggplants in an Earth box. They are just late in maturing. One tomato plant grown in a large container has produced several large green tomatoes. I hope they get ripe! We've harvested from the Earth Box tomato plants.Two zucchini plants produced a total of 5 zucchini. About 20 beets were harvested from the porch and 4 window boxes of lettuce are still producing.Swiss chard took a hard hit from the rain too and the plants haven't grown to full size.Watermelon was eaten by the chickens.HERBS:I grew 3 kinds of basil and they really started to grow about a month ago. The oregano and thyme are just now about 3 inches high. I've transplanted them into Dollar Tree buckets that I drilled drainage holes into. The cat mint grew really nice. I'm planting it all around the yard because it's supposed to repel flea beetles. Also harvesting seed from basil, cat mint and dill.Just a few seedlings of cilantro. It took a couple months to germinate! Wow. It might have enough time to grow. I can cover it to lengthen the season and then bring it in the house when it gets too cold.Gutter garden and Earth Boxes made all the difference. I bought the Earth Boxes for $23.00 each at Big Lots 2 years ago and they sold out. I don't want to spend $50.00 on them.It was so much easier 20 years ago when I had all the sun necessary shining on my garden. I hope that the changes we are making now will last 20 years!